Expatica's German news in English: Russia warns against imposing sanctions on Iran

Expatica's German news in English: Russia warns against imposing sanctions on Iran

Russia on Tuesday warned against imposing international sanctions on Iran over its controversial nuclear research, while China said it still hoped to see a diplomatic solution to the international row although not ruling out action through the U.N. Security Council.
"Sanctions are by far not the best or the only way to settle the problem," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow, citing failure of sanctions against Iraq to cow Saddam Hussein's regime.
Similar measures against Iran would only "put the cart in front of the horse", he added.

The priority now was for the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to gather as much information as possible about the Iranian nuclear programme, Lavrov said, stressing that Tehran should be more compliant with the process than in the past.

Russia favours continued talks between the Iranian leadership and the European troika of Germany, Britain and France. But this would only be possible if Tehran returned to the voluntary moratorium on its nuclear research, Lavrov said.

Talks on Russia's proposal to take over uranium production for Iran were expected to resume in Moscow on February 16, according to the minister.

Despite the failure this month of Russian and Iranian officials to reach agreement on the issue, Tehran has not fully rejected the proposal, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday.

Meanwhile China on Tuesday said it still hoped to see a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear issue despite "difficulties" in the negotiations, but it did not rule out action through the U.N. Security Council.

At present, although the negotiation process to solve the Iran nuclear issue has met some difficulties, we think that handling [it] ... through diplomatic means is a good choice that conforms with the interests of all parties," foreign ministry spokesman Kong Quan said.

Kong urged Iran to resume negotiations with the European trio, saying this was a "key issue" in finding a diplomatic solution to the standoff.

But he would not say if China was willing to agree to the Security Council taking up the issue, saying there were still "multiple choices" available.

China is one of the five veto-holding permanent members of the Security Council who, with Germany, met on Monday to discuss the possible referral of the issue to the U.N. body.
Britain, France and Germany intend to call for an emergency meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) - the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog - to discuss Iran's nuclear activities, the London Foreign Office said on Monday.

Russia and China are seen as playing a key role in the dispute.

You might want to warn the US not to make any unilateral decisions...its time someone took the upper hand with Bush, and remind him he is not going to continue to do as he pleases internationally.